Building element



Sept. 25, 1934. P, HOFFMANN 1,975,043

BUILDING ELEMENT Filed Feb. 1-, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a (Ga 5 i /7 Z22 I faaZHa/fzzzzzzz I Patented Sept. 25, 1934 .UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE Application February 1,

1934, Serial No. 709,380

In Germany January 31, 1933 14 Claims.

. This invention relates in the first place to a building element intended for the making of constructions in the ground, upon it and above it,

furthermore for lining spaces, such as tunnels, mine shafts, drifts and galleries, and the like; in the second place the invention relates to the manner or method of using said building elements for the purposes stated without the employment of scafiolds or other auxiliary structures.

A building element designed according to this invention comprises a plain or a curved metal plate, the longitudinal rims of which are bent into U-shape, each rim having two U-shaped bends directed oppositely to one another at right angles with respect to the body portion of the plate, said rims bent as stated being adapted to serve as joining members for adjacent like building elements also designed as stated. The U-shaped bends at each rim of the plate are generally differently large in transverse section, the arrangement being always such that the smaller bend of a plate engages the correspondingly located larger bend of the adjacent plate, and the smaller bend of this plate engages the correspondingly located larger bend of the first-mentioned plate, so that the bends interengage whereby the building elements are joined.

Various constructional forms of such building elements are possible. Either the smaller bends are located immediately at the body portion of the plate, or the larger bends are so located, and the two bends which are located immediately at the body portion of the plate may extend in the same direction or in opposite directions, and they may 35 be differently large, that is to say, theone of these bends may be a small one and the other may be'a large one, which; however, may be the case also when the two bends located immediately at the body portion of the plate extend in the same direction. It is possibleto join the building members in alternation, as well as in step-wise arrangement, and in either case nothing else is necessary to join the building members, but to insert their bends into one another which may be eliected very easily and conveniently without auxiliary means of any description. These building members may ,be used also for the construction of covered trenches and the like, also for railway halls and other halls. Owing to the bends and their particular configuration and arrangement the resisting capacity of these building members is very great, as is, consequently, also their bearing power perpendicularly to the plane of the body portion of the elements which is particularly useful in gangways 55 of mines in order to prevent breakdowns. If,

hand. Figure 9 is a plan of portions of two ordinary attention of the miners being presupposed, it is perceived that the pressure exerted by the rock etc. becomes too strong, one or two of the building elements concerned are removed, and are replaced by one or two other elements after the pressing rock has fallen down.

If desired or thought requisite, particular clamping devices may be used for securely maintaining the joined building elements in their proper position with respect to one another. Where they are to be used, the body portion of the plates receives recesses at the ends of the U-shaped bends for the passage of said devices, the details of which are fully dealt with hereinafter, as are also the details of the several constructional forms of the building elements.

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically and by Way of example on the accompanying drawings, on which Figure 1 is an edge-view of a complete building element and of a portion of 5 an adjacent building element joined to said complete one. Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 show five differentmodifications (drawn to a greatly reduced scale relatively to Fig. l), of which that shown in Fig. 4 corresponds with that shown in Fig. 1, there being illustrated in every case three of the respective building elements in order to sho-w'how they can be arranged relatively to one another. Figure '7 is a perspective illustration of portions of corners of two joined building elements, in connection with a clamping device. Figure 8 is a similar view showing a modification of the clamping device, the scale of these Figs. (7 and 8) lying between that of Fig. 1 on the one hand and Figs. 2-6 on the other building members at the places where they are to be connected with one another by clamping devices of the type shown in Fig. 8. Figure 10 is a perspective view of a tunnel lined with building elements according to this invention. Figure 11 is a vertical transverse section through a gallery lining, Figure 12 shows a .modification thereof, and Figure 13 shows another modification, all as fully described hereinafter.

Referring to Fig. 1, the building element which is formed by a comparatively thin sheet-metal plate consists of the body portion a of the plate, the U-shaped bends b and b, and the U-shaped bends d and d. The bends b b are located immediately at the body portion a and, therefore, between this portion'and the bends d d. The bend b is larger in transverse section than the bend b, and the bend at is likewise larger in transverse section than the bend d. The bends d can receive the bends b, and the bends b can receive the bends d, it being understood that a plurality of the building elements follow one another either in alternation, as in Figs. 2 and 3, or in step-wise arrangement, as in Figs. 4-6.

I have already mentioned that Figs. 1 and 4 correspond with one another, but it is to be observed, concerning Fig. i, that the consecutive building elements alternate with one another, as regards the direction in which the bends located immediately at the body portion a of the elements extend forth from this portion. In the building element at the upper or left hand end of the Fig. 4 the bends b and b are upwardly directed, in the next element downwardly, and so on. Anyhow, all these elements have accurately the same shape, as will be perceived by a close examination of the several elements in Fig. 4.

The same is true of all other building elements (Figs. 2, 3, 5 and 6). The constructional forms shown in Figs. 2 and 3 are designed for arrangement in alternation, as will be clear without a more detailed description, and the constructional forms shown in Figs. 5 and 6 are designed for step-wise arrangement, as will likewise be evident without entering into details.

The Figs. 7 and 8 relate to the clamping devices that may be used in certain cases in con nection with the building element. These figures show two constructional forms of said devices. As these devices extend from the one side or surface of the building elements to the other side or surface thereof, passages for them must be provided in the elements concerned. Such 'passages are formed by recesses 0- (Fig. 9) made -in those parts a of the plate which have not been bent; they are located directly at the ends of the metal plate, either at only one side of the same, as in Fig. 7, or at both sides, as in Figs. 8 and 9. Concerning the clamping device illustrated in Fig. '1, it consists of a strip of sheet-metal t forming at one end a hook t and at the other end a hook t and consists furthermore, of a guttershaped piece t having at one of its rims an oblique flange n. The piece t receivesin its groove the interengaging joining members on the one side of the respective joined building elements, the hook t engages said oblique flange n, and the hook engages the interengaging joining members on the other side of the building elements, whereby the parts are securely prevented from being withdrawn from one another, or from changing spontaneously their proper position relatively to one another, this action being greatly improved and continually maintained by the obliqueness of the flange n,

In Fig. 8 the clamping device is practically V-shaped, the hook-part t of Fig. '7 being prolonged and extending likewise through a recess 0, as does also the hook t and forms at its end a book 5 engaging an oblique flange n of the gutterlike member This member has in this case two oblique flanges (n and n), the one for engagement with the hook t the other for engagement with the hook 25 In Fig. 10 is shown how a tunnel is lined with building elements or plates according to this invention. The plates a are circularly curved in this case, every curve constituting one third of the circumference of the tunnel wall. The U-shaped bends at the longitudinal rims of the individual plates a serve for joining the successive rings in the longitudinal direction of the tunnel, and where the plates of a ring join one another, there clamping devices s (such as shown in Figs. '7 and 8) are provided.

Figs. 11, 12 and 13 show three different constructional forms of gallery linings composed of building elements designed according to this invention. The elements or plates a are curved and connected at their abutting ends by means of clamping members 3. Fig. .13 is practically the same as Fig. 11, but is provided with a bottom a likewise consisting of elements or plates of the type in question.

I claim:

1.. A building element comprising a metal plate which is substantially plane in cross section having opposite edges provided with bends of substantial U-shape extending out of the plane of the plate body, each edge havng two substantially U-shaped bends directed above and below the plane of said plate and having walls normal to the body portion of the plate, said bent edges adapted to serve as joining elements for adjacent, similarly constructed building elements.

2. A building element as specified in claim 1, in which the two substantially U-shaped bends at each edge of the plate are unequalin transverse section so as to permit interengagement of the similarly bent edges of adjacent plates.

3. A building element as specified in claim 1, in which the U-shaped bends at each edge are "unequal, the small and large bends at each edge being so arranged to permit interengagement of the bent edges of adjacent plates in an alternating manner.

4. A building element as specified in claim 1, wherein the walls defining one U-shaped bend are spaced differently than the walls defining the other U-shaped bend at the same edge, the small and large bends at each edge being arranged so as to permit interengagement of the bent edges of adjacent plates in a stepped manner.

5. A building element as specified in claim 1 in which the substantially U-shaped bends located directly at the body portion of the plate extend in the same direction.

6. A building element as specified in claim 1 in which the substantially U-shaped bends located directly at the body portion of the plate extend in opposite directions.

7. A building element as specified in claim 1 in which the substantially U-shaped bends located directly at the body portion of the plate are equal in transverse section.

8. A building element as specified in claim 1 in which the substantially U-shaped bends located directly at the body portion of the plate are unequal in transverse section.

9. A building element as specified in claim 1 in which a recess is formed in the body portion of the plate, adjacent to the bend located directly at the body portion and opening upon an edge of said plate not already specified.

10. In combination with building elements as specified in claim 1 in which a recess for the reception of a clamping device is formed in the plate behind its contiguous bend andropening upon another edge of the plate, bipartite clamping devices for preventing spontaneous separation of joined building elements and comprising a member of U-shaped transverse section having an oblique flange at one of its edges and being adapted to be inserted over the outer of the interengaging bends on the one side of the joined elements, and another member which is hookkshaped at both ends, one of said hooks being adapted to extend over the outer of the interen gaging bends on the other side of the joined building elements, and the other hook being adapted to engage, through the appertaining recess in the edge of the plate concerned, the oblique flange of the first-mentioned member of the clamping device.

11. In combination with building elements as specified in claim 1 in which a recess for the reception of a clamping device is formed. in the plate behind its contiguous bend and opening upon another edge of the plate, bipartite clamping devices for preventing spontaneous separation of joined building elements and comprising a member of U-shaped transverse section having an oblique flange at each edge and being adapted to be inserted over the outer of the interengaging bends on the one side of the joined elements, and another member of substantially 'V-form adapted to be inserted over the interengaging bends on the other side of the elements, the legs of the V lextending through the appertaining recesses in the rims concerned and having inwardly bent ends adapted to engage the flanges of the firstmentioned member of the bipartite clamping device.

12. The combination of building elements substantially plane in cross section having cooperating edges each formed with a pair of unequal projections having walls normal to the element body, the base of each projection lying without the plane of the element body, the larger and smaller projections of one element interfitting with the smaller and larger projections of another PAUL HOFFMANN. 

